FERNANDO BELAUNDE

Former Peruvian president; 89

Former Peruvian President Fernando Belaunde, who was bustled out of office by pistol-packing generals in 1968 and returned to power by a massive majority in elections 12 years later, died Tuesday. He was 89.

Víctor Andrés García, Mr. Belaunde's nephew, told Radioprogramas radio that the ex-president died from complications from a stroke at 5:25 p.m. at a hospital in Lima. Mr. Belaunde had fallen into a coma at about 1 p.m., García said.

A veteran of more than a half a century in politics, Mr. Belaunde was regarded as a patriarch of democracy in Latin America, and one of the region's great orators. He had a reputation for personal honesty that made him an exception to the rule among Peruvian political leaders.

Mr. Belaunde's second wife, Violeta Correa, one of his closest collaborators, died a year ago, on June 1, 2001, from lung cancer, and those close to Mr. Belaunde said her death had made him despondent.

"He has been in that mood of wanting to go quickly to accompany her," García said May 24 just hours after Mr. Belaunde was rushed to a hospital emergency room after suffering a stroke.

He said that only a few days before taking ill, Mr. Belaunde had visited his wife's grave and had left a bouquet of flowers with a card that said: "Wait for me."

A day before being hospitalized, Mr. Belaunde urged Peruvians not to be pessimistic about the future of their country despite its multiple problems and added, "My life is approaching its end, but I see an end with happiness, with hope."

First elected president in 1963, Mr. Belaunde was overthrown and exiled in 1968 by Gen. Juan Velasco, who ushered in 12 years of military rule.

During his 10 years in exile, Mr. Belaunde earned his living as a university professor, teaching at Harvard, Columbia, Johns Hopkins and George Washington universities. The experience left him with great admiration for America's democracy.

He returned to Peru to win the 1980 presidential election by a landslide, marking the restoration of democratic rule. His first act was to return Peru's newspapers, which had been seized by the leftist military government, to their owners.

Born Oct. 7, 1912, Mr. Belaunde spent his early years in Paris and the United States when his father was sent into political exile in 1924. He went on to study architecture at the University of Miami and the University of Texas, from where he graduated in 1935.

He helped to found the National Democratic Front in 1943 and in 1956 started the centrist Popular Action party, which he led until his death.

He served in the Chamber of Deputies for one term from 1945 to 1948 and ran unsuccessfully for president twice. President Manuel Prado, his political foe, confined him in 1959 to an island prison, from which he tried to escape by swimming.

Mr. Belaunde was succeeded as president by Alan García in 1985, the first time in more than 40 years that one democratically elected president handed power to another.

More than any other Peruvian leader before him, Mr. Belaunde traveled the length and breadth of Peru's desert coastline, Andean highlands and Amazon jungles, saying he did so "not to be rendered homage, but to search for inspiration and ideas."

His travels into the remote corners of Peru, Mr. Belaunde said in a 1999 interview in his memorabilia-filled apartment, "taught me much about the country. Naturally I traveled by modern means but also by ancient means. We crossed the Andes by horseback nine times and once the jungle by foot."

As a professor of architecture at Lima's National University of Engineering, Mr. Belaunde would often invite his students to accompany him on explorations of the remnants of the Andean highway system built by the Inca civilization.

During his two administrations, Mr. Belaunde built important highways and major hydroelectric dams and brought electricity to thousands of towns. He also constructed numerous housing projects in Lima and other cities.

Mr. Belaunde wrote several books, among them "The Conquest of Peru by Peruvians," which laid out his vision of the country and how it should be developed.

He supported the failed 1990 presidential campaign of his close friend, famed novelist Mario Vargas Llosa, who was beaten by Alberto Fujimori.

Mr. Belaunde condemned Fujimori's 1992 "self-coup," in which he suspended the constitution and dissolved Congress and the Supreme Court with military backing.

Months later, Mr. Belaunde refused to participate in the elections of a constituent assembly designed to restore democracy, saying they merely consolidated Fujimori's dictatorial rule.

He remained one of Fujimori's harshest critics in following years. In November 2000, Fujimori was forced from power in a corruption scandal and lives in exile in Japan.